A Number's Factor
by SethFurnace
Summary: The Garde had to flee from Lorien due to Mogadorian's. Seth Slade, or that's what he's being called now, and his siblings are currently in California. They've been running form Mog's for the Eleven years that the Loric have been on Earth.
1. Chapter 1

11 Years Ago, 2001.

10 kids plus their Cepans were on a journey. A journey far away from Lorien; their home planet. They were headed to the planet Earth. Did they know if they were all going to make it? No. Would they all live long healthy lives? Most likely not. The kids ranged in ages, but they were all young. They didn't have any family going with them, except for each other and their Cepans. They spent about a year in total on that ship, heading toward their destination. The kids, the Garde, all played kid games toward. They were Loric, but no one was worried about them fitting in when they got to Earth. Of course they'd learn to fit in, to hide their secret about really being from another planet. They would be led by their Cepans, their protector's, to fit in. Failure to fit in would not be an option.

One may ask themselves, why were this so called all important Garde just kids? That answer is simple, they were meant to take the places of the former Garde before the Mogadorians started a war with Lorien and the Loric people. Many people lost their lives protecting the future Garde so that they were able to get to the ship. Most of the future Garde did know each other, but in the Garde there was two sets of siblings. They were both brother and sister pairings, both of which was set to be in the Garde. Each sibling pairs only had one Cepan, they'd be sticking together throughout the Earth stay.

After the year of traveling on the ship, they finally landed on planet Earth. The Garde, or future Garde considering they were kids at this point, stared around at their new surroundings. The Cepans met up with a human from the planet to get their new places to start off at. They all got a slip of paper with an address of a house for them to stay at for the first while, they also got directions to the place that they'd be staying at. Right before they were to split up from each other, all of the kids hugged each other. The Cepans knew that likely the Garde may never see some of it's members again, depending on whether or not the Mogadorians caught up with where they were now at. After that, all of the Garde members and Cepans got a ride to their new places.

* * *

Present Day. California, United States, 2012.

My name is Seth Slade. Or at least on Earth it was. I didn't remember my Loric name, didn't remember my sister's Loric name either. We had been on Earth for eleven years in total. In that time, surprisingly only Number 1 had been killed by the Mogs. I'd gotten the scar from One when I was ten years old, only six years ago now. I had been in school when it happened. Luca, my brother and Cepan, had came to pick me and my sister, Leah, up from our school as soon as it had happened. We didn't go back to school for a few days, until we had moved to a new place from where we had been.

I was in my new school currently, one I'd only gone to for about three weeks now. I took a glance around the classroom, normal as always. Luca had drilled it into Leah and I's minds that we needed to be aware of everyone around us, incase a Mog had snuck into my school. Like they could hide out in a High School in Los Angeles, California. I laughed slightly. I couldn't picture a Mog being in a High School, but if it was really that desperate to catch one of the Garde, I guess it could fit in, possibly.

I wasn't paying attention to the teacher droning on about some assignment that needed to be turned in by the next Monday. Looking around the room, I could tell that not a lot of the other students were paying attention either. At least I wasn't the only one who was paying absolutely no attention to our boring teacher. One of the office assistants walked through the classroom door.

"Mr Slade, you're needed in the office." She said in a formal voice, cutting off our teacher. I stood up and grabbed my backpack, walking toward the door. I walked past the assistant and out into the hall.

"What have I done now?" I asked sarcastically as I walked behind her toward the office of the school.

"Nothing, we just have a new student who we thought you'd be good to show him around the school. He's 16, like you and he'll have most of the same classes as you do." She replied. I nodded to myself as we reached the office. There was a kid with brown hair sitting in one of the chairs in the office. "Seth Slade meet Trey Woodlee. Trey, you transferred here from Tampa Florida right?"

"Yes, ma'am." He replied standing up. He was taller than I was. He smiled and nodded at me. "So, Seth, guess you're stuck with the new kid, eh?"

"I've only been going here for a few weeks, not sure why they thought I'd be good, but whatever." I said, shrugging. I walked toward the office door, I heard Trey's footsteps behind me. When we walked out into the hallway, the classrooms were all filing out of their classes. It was lunch fortunately.

"Lunch time, Trey. So, lets find your locker and hurry to lunch. I don't won't to be late for eating." I said, looking back at him. He handed me the piece of paper that he had gotten from the office. It showed that his locker was only a few down from mine. I walked through the hallways toward the locker. I nodded as soon as we got to his locker. He unlocked it and threw his stuff inside of it while I walked down to mine and did the same thing. Afterwards, I led him toward the lunch room. While we were in line, I decided to go through pretty much the typical day at the school for Trey.

"Pretty much dude, you just wanna follow the rules here. Even if you don't pay that much attention in class, just go with the flow, ya know?" I said. Trey nodded and looked around the lunch room. We got food and I went to walk outside to the tables, I heard Trey following me out the door. I walked to my usual table and sat down. Trey sat down across the table from me.

"So, any sports?" He asked. I gave him a look of disbelief.

"Of course there's sports. Jeez." I replied, looking around outside. It was the typical day for the schools outside lunch group, there was a group of people tossing a football across their table while they were eating, then there was the people who were trying to go ahead and get some of their homework done with before heading home for the day whenever all of the classes were over.

"Got any brothers or sisters?" I asked Trey. He shook his head.

"No, I'm an only kid, plus I only got my dad here with me." He replied. I nodded.

"I have a brother and a sister." I said.

"Parents?" He asked. I shook my head.

"They - ugh - passed away." I said, coming up with an excuse for why it was only Leah, Luca, and I. Trey nodded and offered me a sad smile.

"Sorry to hear that." He said. I nodded. He looked around the outside area before looking back at me. "So, why'd you move here a few weeks ago?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I stated, laughing. "My brother, sister, and I just need a change in place. What about you?"

"Same, I guess. My dad got a new job here too, so yeah." Trey said, shrugging. I nodded, looking around again. Luca would probably be mad if I had gotten a definite friend again. Last time I had a really close friend, we'd had to move right afterwards, and I'd been upset with him and all of the Loric people for a while. I didn't want to lose my only friend back then, of course that was also when I was ten, when Number One got killed.

"Wanna hang out sometime?" I asked. Trey looked up from his food and nodded. I took a bite of my burger before setting it down and looking back at him.

"Sure, I guess. I mean I'll have to check it out with like my dad, incase he has anything planned for any of the days we may hang out or anything." He said quickly. I nodded and shrugged.

"Sure, sure. Same here, I guess." I replied, shrugging again. I looked around the outside area to try to find the Seniors section of the tables, I knew my sister would probably be at one of the outside tables eating with some of the other students from her classes. When I finally found her, I smiled over at her. She returned the smile as soon as she saw me. I was lucky that me, my sister, and my brother were as close as we were, since I'd never been allowed to sleep over at a friends house, or go on fieldtrips without Luca there, wasn't allowed to do anything like a normal kid did really while growing up. All in order to protect the Loric secret. I still remembered the day when I developed my first Legacy with every detail. That's when Luca became all the more stricter as far as I went, Leah had devolped a few Legacies before I had even gotten my first one.

* * *

Two Years Before, Nevada, 2010.

The Slades had different names back then, except for Luca. Luca had always gone by that name, as it had been his Loric name and he was convinced that he did not need to switch names as much as Leah and Seth did. Every Cepan was prepared to lose their lives for the Garde member, or members, that they were protecting. So Luca wanted to keep his real name as long as possible before he died. Back then, Seth was going by the name of Nathaniel, and Leah by Maxine. Long before then, back on Lorien, Seth was known as Nash, and Leah was known as Merit. They didn't remember their Loric names anymore, but Luca did. He had sworn that he'd only give away the information to them that was necessary, and so far he hadn't thought that their birth names had been that necessary, since he was not even sure that either of them would live to see Lorien again. Nash and Merit had friended three definite friends on the trip from Lorien to Earth. One was the same age as Nash and his name was Jord, while the other two were the same age as Merit and the boys name was Mayne, while the girls name was Rhea. Nash and Merit had known all of Jord, Mayne, and Rhea while they were on Lorien, but their friendships had really grown while on the ship headed for Earth. They hadn't seen any of the three since the ship had landed and all of the Garde was taken in different directions.

Currently, Leah had three Legacies, while Seth had none. Of course, none until one day when he had been walking home. He wasn't paying attention to the way back to their house, instead looking deep in thought. Seth had even shared his opinion about it being unfair that he had absolutely no Legacies yet to Luca, his Cepan and brother, but Luca only told him that they'd come in time. But only if Seth was patient. Seth didn't listen to Luca and instead continued to complain about the situation. He walked out onto a street that was right next to the neighborhood where he lived. Thats when Seth heard the squel of car tires, he whipped his head around, only to see a car coming right toward him. Instinctively, he held up his hands in front of him and closed his eyes. When he reopened his eyes a couple of seconds later, he saw that the car had stopped an inch away from him. Little did Seth know, he had devolped his first Legacy.

He ran to his house that he shared with his brother and sister in Nevada and explained what all happened to Luca. Luca told him that he thought that it was Seth's first Legacy coming in. For the rest of the day, they worked on devolping the Legacy. No matter what it was that Luca threw at Seth, Seth was able to stop it mid-air right before it hit him. That Legacy would come in handy if he ever encountered more Mogadorians. Luca figured throughout that night that they needed to leave Nevada and as soon as possible, before stories of Seth stopping the car met the internet and the local news.

Luca didn't want to attract any Mogadorians attention, even if the Mogadorians weren't on Leah or Seth's Number yet. They could still catch them and hold them hostage until they killed all of the numbers up until them, if they could figure out which Numbers Leah and Seth were. Luca had always made a point of not telling them what their Numbers were, just to keep them on their toes. He figured that if he shared the knowledge with them, then they wouldn't be as worried until the Numbers up until them were long gone. Luca worried every day that Mogadorians would show up and capture his brother and sister from him, and possibly even kill him. He knew it was his responsibility to keep them alive, even if it meant his life, but he wasn't looking forward to the day of his death just yet.

* * *

Present Day, California, 2012.

I had only gained one more Legacy since then, the power to be invisable whenever I wanted. I didn't get to use my Legacies much, since we'd luckily only ran into one Mog in the past, but at least I had them just incase I ever really needed them. I had always been worried up until then that maybe I'd never gain a Legacy for some reason. I knew that since Luca was my Cepan I should've listened to him and believed him when he reassured me that I'd get a Legacy eventually, but I still had those doubts on days. Especially whenever Leah would gain a new Legacy, it'd make me feel even worse about not having a Legacy until that day.

After lunch, Trey and I went through our classes in mostly silence. Then after school, we parted ways. I headed to my house while Trey headed to his. We had given each other our numbers just incase we ever wanted to really hang out together. I figured that out of everyone at the school, maybe Trey wouldn't be that bad of a choice, I could be wrong though. I never really trusted anyone, even if I knew them for years, which never happened. Like I said, I'd only had one real friend while on Earth, and I had to leave right afterwards. I didn't really want to get attached to people after that.

* * *

When I reached my house, I unlocked the door and walked inside. I threw my backpack onto the couch and sat down beside it. Luca wouldn't be home for another hour at the most since he was working. I was surprised that he was since he was so cautious about letting us go anywhere except school by ourselves. Maybe since I was now 16 and Leah was 18, Luca figured that he could trust us both enough to live on our owns, but he still wasn't gone for that long for work. In the past, he barely ever worked. He usually stayed right near our schools in case a Mog showed up, Leah use to complain a lot about Luca being so over-protective of us both.

I walked into the kitchen to look for something to eat when I heard the front door open. I slid open a drawer and pulled out a knife. After a second, I whipped around and went invisible. I ran into the living room before revealing myself. I tossed the knife at the intruder before I really realized who I just tossed a knife at.

"Jesus, Seth. You can't just go around throwing knives at people." Leah snapped, dropping the knife to the ground. I grinned and shrugged.

"Sorry, thought you were a Mog." I explained. Leah rolled her eyes.

"Because a Mog is going to use the front door!" Leah said, walking past me and down the hallway to her room. I only walked over to grab the knife off the ground when I heard her door slam shut. I was walking back to the kitchen when I heard my cell phone ring. I ran back into the living room and grabbed it off the couch.

"Hello?" I said answering it. "Hey Seth. It's Trey. I was just wondering if it'd be cool if I came over tonight." Trey said.

"Hey, sure that'd be cool. You'll just have to ignore my sister and brother. But yeah." I replied. I heard Trey laugh on the other end.

"Alright. What's your address again?" He asked.

"357 West Stratton Street." I replied, remembering the address that we now lived at.

"Alright, see you in a few." Trey replied hanging up.

I stood up and grabbed my backpack, walking down the hallway. "Sis, I got a friend coming over. So please, be the best person you can be. If that's at all possible." I said loudly enough to make sure Leah could hear as I walked into my bedroom. As if I needed to worry about Leah hearing what I said. She happened to just get the Legacy of heightened hearing, which made my life hell whenever I was trying to talk to just Luca and not have Leah in on the conversation. Leah walked into my room and smirked at me.

"Aw.. you got yourself a friend? Is it that kid I saw you talking to at lunch today? I'm sure Luca's just going to be so proud when he finds out that you invited someone over." Leah said sarcastically.

"Shut up. And yes, that's Trey." I replied, pushing my way past her and out of my room. I walked back up to the living room and flopped down onto the couch. I turned on the TV and stared at it, not really paying attention to whatever was on the TV. I heard Leah's door close again right before I heard a car pull up outside. I looked outside right at some fancy sports car parked outside of the house. I'd never seen it before so I guessed it was Treys. I opened the door as Trey got out and walked up to the door.

"Hey." I said, closing the door behind him. He walked over to the couch and sat down, making himself at home in my family's house immediately. I sat down beside of him.

"Hey," He replied. "So, nice house. Took me about five minutes to find it, since you live close to me."

"Cool." I said, looking over at him. "So, whats up?"

"Nothing, just an argument with Bill, my dad." He replied. "That's why I called to ask if I could hang out here, just until he gets over it, you know?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I understand. What were you all fighting about?"

"Just some old things. You must know how it is to have some things in your past that come up every once in a while, right?" He asked. "I mean I'm just guessing that everyone does have something in their past that they don't want to hear about all of the time."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I replied. He nodded. I heard a door down the hall open and then a few seconds later Leah walked up the hallway. She smirked at me and Trey before walking outside of the house. "So, was that your sister?" Trey asked, looking over at me.

"Yeah, that was the demon herself. Now her, that's definitely something in my past which I'd rather not tell anyone about." I joked. Trey started laughing and shaking his head. I laughed too when I heard a kick against the front door. I heard another car pull up outside and a door quickly open and slam shut on the car. Luca walked inside the house a few seconds later, he looked over at Trey and I, before shaking his head. He walked into the kitchen and dropped a bag from a store onto the counter, afterwards he walked back into the living room.

"Seth, we need to talk later." He said, looking pointedly at me. I nodded.

"Yeah, sure." I replied, looking over at Trey before looking at the front door. Leah had to of told Luca that I had a friend over at the house. Luca was definitely pissed that I actually invited a person outside of our group of three people over to our house, which was not the best idea when running from the Mogs. But I was tired of not being able to have any friends at all while we lived in a place. We tended to change at least our middle and last names whenever we moved - if not our entire name, including the first names - so I didn't see why it mattered whether or not I had actual friends while we lived in one place. Plus, I was old enough to make my own decisions as far as who I hang out with went. I didn't need a Cepan telling me whether or not I could hang out with anyone.

* * *

Trey and I spent the rest of the time that he was there just talking about school stuff. After he left, I went to Luca's office to find him on his computer looking for any more stories about kids doing anything considered not normal by society's opinion's. He had already thought that he had leads on some of the other members of the Garde, but I tried to tell him that it was just luck or rumors that he was reading about. The stories he had read about included a boy in Hawaii who stopped a Shark from attacking a friend of the kids, then a girl in Pennsylvania who apparently could move things with her mind, and a boy in England who had been able to hack every computer system that they had tested him on. I didn't believe that any of them were real or were Garde members, but Luca wouldn't listen whenever I told him that. I walked behind him and took a glance at his computer, it was yet another story about an unusual teenager.

"Whats the talent this time?" I asked sarcastically.

"Telekinesis again. Different kid this time. This time the boy who can move stuff with his mind is from Texas, not like the girl from Pennsylvania. But I do believe they're both members of the Garde." Luca replied, completely serious. He looked back at me as if he hadn't noticed the sarcastic tone to my voice. As if he was just sure that these kids were Loric and that he knew he could get in touch with them and their Cepan's.

"So, why don't you try to contact them then?" I asked, looking over at him. I knew what the answer would be, I had asked it before.

"Because, I've searched all about this, there is no links to pages on social websites, there is no links to anything, Seth." Luca replied, using the name I had used for the past two houses we had lived at. I had never asked what my Loric name was, never figured I needed to know, but it would be nice to have a name to be called at our own house when no one else was around.

"About your friend. Whats his name?" Luca asked, turning to look at me. I sighed, I knew this was coming whether or not he started with this subject or not.

"His names Trey Woodlee. His dads name is Bill Woodlee. Why does it matter? He's just a guy from school. In fact today was his first day even, so I don't see what the big deal is." I stated, looking at the floor.

"Trey and Bill Woodlee. Okay." Luca started. "It matters because you could get mixed up in the wrong crowd, Seth. I don't want you trusting someone who you can't trust. And the fact that he only started after we moved here proves that fact even more."

"What Number am I?" I asked out of nowhere. I'd never asked Luca before about that. If I was Number Two then I should be more careful, but if I wasn't then that meant that there was at least one Loric Garde member in front of me on the list the Mogs had.

"You're Number Six." Luca replied. "Leah's Four."

"So, we have time until they're definitely after us, don't we?" I said slowly. "So, why does it matter currently if I have friends or not?"

Luca sighed. "Seth, I'm just worried about you all. You know I'd die for you both, but I don't want it to come down to that. I'd rather us never be found by the Mogadorian's."

"That's not possible, Luca! They will always find us! No matter what!" I shouted at him. Why couldn't he see that? No matter where we were or what we did, we'd always be found. There was no question about that at all. I walked out of the room and to my bedroom, slamming the door behind me. I made sure to lock it so that Luca and Leah couldn't get in, unless Leah had devolped some new Legacy. I flung myself down onto the bed and closed my eyes.

* * *

Present Day, United States, 2012.

Number Two was laying in his bed, staring up at the ceiling of his small bedroom. He had no clue that he was being watched, that anyone had figured out where he had moved to. As far as he and his Cepan knew, they hadn't been followed yet. It was a confident move to even let Two got to a public High School when he was the next to be killed. Two seemed to not even care about being the next in line for the Mogadorian's. Although, by the look on Two's face, it was obvious that he thought something was going on around him. He just couldn't figure out what it was.

He gave his room a sweep with his eyes before holding his right hand, palm up, towards the ceiling. A bright light of Lumen shot out of his hand and lit up the ceiling. Everything in the room went from dark to very light. After a second, Two sighed and let the Lumen go out. He rolled over on his bed and closed his eyes, blocking everything from his room - and outside of his room - from his vision. It would've been easy for a Mogadorian to attack him at that very moment, but it wasn't time yet. They all knew when the time for attack was, and it wasn't right now, so the Mogadorian's in the near area left him alone. Let him sleep and get ready for his second day at that new High School.

* * *

Present Day, England, 2012.

Number Three had no problem hacking into any of the computer systems that his Cepan and others put in front of him. He knew that the news stories about him would be hitting the internet soon, too soon for his liking. He was worried about anyone seeing him on the internet because of his Number. He worried every day for the second scar to come, knowing that it would mean that he was next. To draw attention from him, he tried to place stories on the internet about amazing kids in other countries, any country but his. But none of the stories seemed to draw attention as much as his did. Why was it so amazing to people that a kid could hack computers? Any kid could've done that? Sure, it helped, though, that he did have a talent for hacking computers. Not a regular talent either, a Loric talent. Only the Garde got talents. Only the ten, or well nine now, got any sort of powers like that.

He leaned back in the chair. He was tired of checking the internet and trying to destroy all of the stories about his computer hacking skills. All he wanted was to go to sleep, but he couldn't. Every time he tried to lay down, he had a dream that a Mog was watching him. He glanced over at the window in the small room, no one was outside of it. He was just paranoid, too paranoid. Him being paranoid was going to take a toll on his already barely there sanity levels. He laid his head onto the desk in front of him and let his eyes close.


	2. Chapter 2

Los Angeles, California, 2012.

I woke up and looked around my bedroom. Everything was still where it had been when I fell asleep the night before. I was always worried that someone would've broken in and taken something from my stuff, whether it be a Mog or a regular person. I reached a hand to my neck and held the Loric pendant that was attached to the chain that hung around my neck. The Loric stuff that I had meant the most to me out of all of the stuff that I owned. I didn't have a lot of it though. Luca had some rocks from Lorien, Leah and I had our chests, - that we couldn't open yet - and we had our Loric Symbol necklaces that all of the Garde had. It wasn't a lot, but it was my heritage.

I slid out of the bed and walked out of the room. I heard Luca and Leah talking downstairs about some new internet story. I didn't want to hear it so I walked into the bathroom and took a shower. Once I got out, I figured I couldn't waste any more time, especially if I wanted to make it to school today. Which I did, I wanted to make sure I kept up my acceptable grades that I constantly got at every school. I didn't always have good grades though. Luca use to rant at me to get better grades, so one year I actually attempted to get better grades, but not too good of grades because I didn't want to draw any attention for having all A+'s.

I sometimes wished I remembered more about Lorien and the trip to Earth, I remembered a couple of things but not a lot. I mainly remembered a friend I had on the ship. Didn't remember his name, but I remembered that he had brown hair and brown eyes. I often wondered if he had been Number One.

* * *

Space Ship, 2001.

Nash and Jord were playing one of their usual games, tag, which Nash had attempted to talk his sister into playing with them, to no avail, when one of the other kids walked up to Nash and Jord. His name was Jev, and he was a year younger than Nash and Jord. Jev was carrying around a stuffed Teddy Bear. Nash had seen Merit, his sister, picking on Jev in the past, of course Merit also picked on Nash and Jord most of the time too. Jev tended to follow Jord and Nash around the ship, not that either of them minded having a follower, they actually thought it was cool that one of the other Garde members would want to follow them around.

"Hey Jev! Want to play tag with us?" Nash asked, smiling at Jev. Jev shrugged. The game of tag went from being two players to three as they all ran around the ship chasing each other. The Cepan's all watched on as they did so, making comments about their future as Garde members and whether or not they'd all make it back to Lorien - which was a constant conversation between the Cepan's. Merit, Rhea, and Mayne were across the ship playing a board game. They were all the same age of seven, and had formed the friendship between them all right after they had all gotten onto the ship, although their parents had all known each other back on Lorien. Mayne smirked at his two friends as he moved his game piece ahead of both of their's. Rhea laughed as she made a move in the game. They continued their game until Mayne won, while Jord, Nash, and Jev continued to play tag and run around the entire ship. They didn't know at that point that in a few months time most of them would probably never see each other again, and most of them would definitely not see each other for years.

* * *

Mexico, 2012.

Number Five was running. After stories of him broke the news online, he knew he had to make a run for it. He and his Cepan packed their things and hit the road. Since they had been in Texas, they figured Mexico was the best place to go. It hadn't taken them that long to make it to Mexico, although Five was nervous the entire way there. He felt as if the Mog's had seen his stories, then they'd try to capture him and hold him there until his number was up. Outside of America, he felt slightly safer. Not by much though. Five remembered his Loric name, of course he did. He always asked his Cepan what it was when he was younger, and by now he had it drilled into his head that his Loric name was Mayne. He remembered some of the stuff from the Ship to Earth even, at least more than he thought some of the other Garde probably remembered. He missed the rest of the Garde at times. He attempted not to think about them, but he had to at times. He knew it'd be better to not think of the possibility of all of his Loric friends dying. Especially since his number was Five, right in the middle of the rest of the Garde.

He glanced down at the scar that was on his ankle. It was from Number One's death. He woke up every day in fear that what would be waking him up was yet another scar from another one of his former friends deaths. Not even really former friends, they were his friends even though he hadn't spoken to them in eleven years. He didn't want to put former on the beginning of that statement about them all. He remembered Rhea and Merit the most, he liked them both when they were kids. But he also remembered people like Pilar, Easton, Greta, and Ander. He wondered where they all were now, and if any of them were Number One. He didn't know everybody elses Numbers, had never wanted to ask in case One had been one of his close friends. Any way you sliced it, one of his friends - if not one of his close friends - had died when Number One died. He hoped that the rest of the Garde could get together before Two died, before Three, Four, and then ultimately, him. He didn't want to die before all of the Garde got back together. Didn't want to be gone when the rest of the Garde needed him most, during the big battle that was destined to happen.

"Am I going to die?" Five asked his Cepan in a quiet voice.

"Hopefully not." His Cepan, Clyde, replied. Clyde was a tall, dark guy. He had black hair and dark brown eyes. He was possibly the most strict Cepan as far as training went. There wasn't a day that Five didn't train for a Mogadorian fight, except for if they were on a plane or in a car all day long trying to move places.

"But I could, right?" Five pressed on. His Cepan nodded.

"But, Mayne, you know I'd die before the Mogadorian's got a chance to get their hands on you. That's our job as Cepan's." Clyde tried to reassure Five. Five just shook his head and stared out at the street in front of them. "Mexico's only temporary, Mayne. We won't be here for long." Five nodded. He didn't want to be in Mexico for very long honestly, but he knew it'd be safe for now. At least safer than Texas was for him now.

Five and his Cepan had been living in Texas for around three years. Never worrying about leaving the state until they knew they had to, which would come when Number Three had been killed. His Cepan had told him that when the Mogadorian's got Three, then they'd start worrying. Until then they'd have a normal life - or as normal as was possible. Five had been on his schools Basketball team, but he knew now that they had to flee the country, he wouldn't be allowed back onto a team by Clyde. He'd be lucky if he got allowed back into a school due to his Cepan's protective side. Five knew that it was because of the Mogadorian's, but still. It could be annoying at times. Especially when it came to girls Five dated. Five figured that maybe if all of the Garde had stayed together, then maybe he would've ended up with Merit or Rhea, or even Greta. But since they hadn't, he figured that it'd be fine for him to date anyone he pleased. He had dated a few really nice girls in the past, but his last one - one that lived in Texas - he had to leave without even saying goodbye to when he ran. She had to be pissed at him now that he ran off and left her. Clyde had once told him that he could date people as long as he never told them anything about Lorien or the Mogadorian's. Like Five would risk that. In return for not telling their secrets, Clyde usually never had an issue with whoever Five dated. He used fake names whenever they moved, so no one would put two and two together and figure it all out by some dumb luck.

Five shook his head, he needed to stop thinking back about the past. The past that didn't involve him on the run, like he was now. Three wasn't dead, neither was Two, but they had ran anyway. They had to, they couldn't stay in Texas with those stories about him on the internet. News spread quickly, and the Mogadorian's would've came and captured him and most likely killed Clyde right away. When Five had devolped his Legacies, Clyde had warned him that that marked him to the Mog's even more than his scar or his necklace did. He reached up to hold his necklace as he thought about it. What would've happened if they had been allowed to stay on Lorien? Death for them all? Was Earth really the best choice? Probably so.

"When can I open my chest?" Five asked, looking over at the Cepan.

"Whenever you want to. Would you like to open it as soon as we find a hotel to stay at?" Clyde replied. Five nodded. Clyde gave a quick nod and went back to looking for hotels for them to stay at.

When they found a hotel, Five still hadn't stopped thinking about what could've been in the chest. It was stuff from the Elders of Lorien, right? So it had to be useful for something, eventually. He helped Clyde bring in all of their stuff from their SUV. He sat the chest down on the bed that he had already claimed as his own for while they stayed there. Clyde looked at him before crossing the room to stand on the other side of his bed.

"Are you sure about this?" Clyde asked. Five nodded, deciding to stay quiet. "Okay then, let's open it up."

* * *

Los Angeles, California, 2012.

I walked into the school half asleep still. I always hated being up this early, but school couldn't be taken at night - as far as I knew. At least not High School for kids under 18. I walked to my locker and unlocked it, throwing my backpack in and grabbing the textbooks and notebooks I needed before slamming it shut. I looked over to Treys locker and found him standing there grabbing his books. I walked over toward him and looked around the hallway.

"So, whats up?" I asked, looking back at Trey. Trey smiled and nodded.

"Just my dad being all up about me hanging out with people already. He's worried I'll turn into one of those people who hang out with a ton of people and are really just a jackass." Trey said, shrugging. I laughed.

"My brother doesn't have to worry about that with me. I have about one friend now, including you." I replied. Trey shook his head.

"I doubt it." He stated. "So, what did your bro want anyway?"

"Just this usual stuff, I forgot to turn in some homework, so he was pissed that I forgot that. He's all about grades, dude." I said, lying. One thing about constantly moving is that it made me able to lie quickly, with only a second to figure out something to say that wasn't the truth, but didn't sound completely mental - not that the truth would sound sane at all. Trey nodded slowly, before looking down the hall.

"So, I guess you gotta run off to class or something?" He asked, smiling after a second. I shook my head.

"He's insane if he's expecting better grades from me." I replied, shrugging. Trey laughed. We headed to class after a few minutes of standing there talking. Trey's seat in our first class together ended up being next to mine. It turned out that the office had put Trey in all of the same classes as me, which I figured would not make Luca and Leah any happier about me hanging out with Trey. Classes went by as usual, which was boring, but having someone to actually talk to now helped.

* * *

United States, 2012.

Two had to be sure that the kids he was watching was really Garde members. His Cepan was sure that they weren't, but Two wanted to believe they were. He and his Cepan had been trying to find other Garde members for as long as he could remember. The place that they had gone to before they last moved, Texas, had been yet another waste of time for them since they were told that the kid they were looking for was long gone - but that he and his friend had left suddenly. Two could still remember the words the man they had been talking to used. "They moved after rumors of the boy being able to do Telekinesis broke the news. All total shit if you ask me." That sentence alone had reassured Two that maybe he'd find Loric Garde members before the Mog's found him. He hoped that he would be able to track down one Garde member who was brave enough to stay around a place afters news of them broke. At least long enough for him to find them. The place Two was in now seemed promising to him, but he still had to wait. Especially since the kid he was following hadn't had any abnormal stories out about him, as far as Two could find. Two was patient though, and he had seen the chain around the kids neck that matched his own. If only he could see what was attached to the necklace.

* * *

Los Angeles, California, 2012.

I took a bite of the sandwich I had gotten for lunch and looked back up at Trey. He was looking down at the textbook he had laid in front of him he wrote down an answer in the notebook beside him.

"Might wanna start eating, dude." I said. He looked up and grinned at me before reached over to his lunch tray and grabbing a handful of fries and shoving them into his mouth. We both looked over when the sound of approaching footsteps reached us. Leah sat down next to me at the table.

"What are you doing here, sis?" I asked, looking at her. She never sat with me.

"Luca told me to make sure you were working on homework." She said, looking at the notebook and textbook I had on the other side of me. I rolled my eyes. She was trying to make sure I didn't say anything to Trey, so she must of overheard my lame excuse of missing homework this morning. Trey looked intently back at his textbook for a minute before looking up at Leah. He smiled at her.

"Don't worry. I'm helping Seth out. I was in advanced classes at my old school." Trey stated, still smiling. Leah looked over at Trey quickly, before looking back at me.

"Get to work." She said sharply. I grabbed the textbook and started reading. No point in arguing anyway.  
I finished most of the homework for the subject I had outside with me by the end of the lunch break. To annoy Leah further, I decided I could hang out with Trey to do the rest of our homework after school. On our way inside I figured I'd ask him.

"Hey dude, wanna hang out somewhere after school?" I asked. Trey looked over at me and nodded.

"Sure we can use my car too, if you want." Trey offered. I nodded. Leah shoved her way past us.  
The rest of the day went by in its normal way, except Trey had been called to the office during our last class. I was waiting outside of the school for him. I would've tried to find his car since I had seen it when he came to my house the night before, but I decided to just stay at the entrance of the school. When Trey finally walked out he looked as if he had gotten a lecture and a half.

"What happened?" I asked, standing up from the ground.

Trey shook his head. "Apparently someone made a comment to the office that I was making sexist comments."

"That's insane. You're in every class I am, I'd know if you did. You haven't." I said. Trey shrugged.

"I know dude." Trey replied. "So want to still go hang somewhere or want me to just give you a ride home? So that your siblings don't think I've murdered you."

I laughed. "Let them think that. It'd be nice to see what their plan is in the case of me being missing." Trey nodded and took off walking in the direction of his car. I followed him.

* * *

Mexico, 2012.

Five gripped onto the lock that kept his chest closed. It came unlocked in his hand. The lid of the chest fell back against the bed. His Cepan looked up at him.

"I must admit, I've been in there before. I added a tablet. One that you see right there." Clyde said, pointing to a white thing that was laying on top of the rest of the stuff. Five pulled the tablet out of the chest and handed it to Clyde. He looked back into the chest at all of the stuff that was inside. There was rocks and gems that looked nothing like the ones on Earth, along with them were a couple of weapons. It looked like the Elder's had prepared all of their chests for fights. He only looked up when Clyde started talking.

"These tablets originally belonged to the humans who helped us. One of them died trying to help us get away. I grabbed his tablet in case we ever needed it. It locates all of you with your necklaces." He explained. Five nodded.

"Can you turn it on to see if it still works?" Five asked. His Cepan nodded. Clyde ran a finger over a button that had to mean on, it looked different from the computers that they owned. The machine lit up after a second, the screen turning to a map of the world. Nine dots showed up. The first thing Five noticed was that three of the dots were practically on top of each other. While the rest were far from each other. He pointed it out to his Cepan.

"Yeah. Last time I checked only two were together and that was because of them being siblings. They've gained another Garde member apparently." Clyde said. "That many Garde members tis going to attract the Mog's."

"What do we do?" Five asked. Clyde flashed him a grin.

"It's time-" Five knew what that meant. "-We joined them and started fighting the Mog's together. We can be there soon. They're in California."

* * *

Los Angeles, California, 2012.

Trey and I ended up sitting at a park. We had finished our homework about an hour ago, but neither of us had said that we could go ahead and leave. My phone had started getting calls from Luca and Leah a few minutes ago.

"I better get back home before they call the entire Police force into a search for me." I said, letting out a sigh. Trey shrugged.

"Could call them and tell them that you're staying over at my place." He said. I looked up at him and he smirked. "I already okayed it with my dad." I nodded and grabbed my phone, dialing Luca's number. He answered after the first ring. "Where are you?" He asked.

"Oh, you know, just tied up in the Woodlee's basement." I said, jokingly. Luca faked a laugh. "Actually, I'm going to stay the night at Trey's house." I stood up and walked away from the table.

"No you're not." Luca replied.

"Yes. There's nothing you can do to change my mind." I snapped.

"Fine then. At least come by the house." Luca begged.

"Sure." I said hanging up. I walked back to the table. "I just got to run by the house first." Trey nodded, standing up and grabbing his backpack. I grabbed mine and we walked back to Trey's car. When we got to the house, I looked over at Trey.

"If I'm not back in thirty minutes, call the cops and tell them my family's holding me hostage." I said. Trey laughed and nodded as I got out of the car. As I walked up to the door, Leah opened it.

"Hey sis." I said walking past her. I walked into the kitchen and there sat Luca with my Loric chest in his lap. He moved it up to the table and looked at me.

"Open it." He said. I looked at him and he nodded. I grabbed the lock and felt it come loose in my hand. I lifted the lid and looked inside. "There'll be time for all of this other stuff later. I want you to have something with you, just incase." Luca said reaching into the chest. He pulled out a small silver rod type thing. He held it out to me. I took it from him and while I held it, it grew longer in my hand. It also grew a knife on one end of it.

"Are you insane? Trey's not a Mog, Luca!" I said, looking at him. Luca nodded.

"I know he's not. I just meant in case any Mog's show up over there. You'll need something to protect yourself with." He said, looking at Leah on the other side of the kitchen. "No one's going to interfere in you hanging out with Trey, again."

I looked over at Leah. "You're the one who told the office that Trey was making sexist comments, aren't you? You know that's total bullshit and yet you told them that. To try to get him kicked out of the school, right?" I asked. Leah shrugged.

"Sorry, bro. I was just looking out for you." Leah explained.

"I don't need you looking out for me like I'm some little kid who can't take care of himself." I snapped. Leah nodded. I gripped the silver spear and it shrunk back down to it's original size. I slipped it into my backpack. "Is that all you needed?" I asked. Luca nodded.

"Be careful, okay?" Luca said. I nodded and walked out of the house. I opened Trey's car door and slid back inside of the car.

"You made it out of there alive." Trey said, looking over at me.

"Surprisingly so." I said, grinning at him.

"You'll have to excuse this family friend who is currently living with my dad and I, and yeah. He's our age, but he goes to a different school from us." Trey said, nodding. I nodded. Trey pulled out of my houses driveway and took off driving. It took us about ten minutes to get to his house. I thought about the spear that was in my backpack, I'd been stupid for even taking it from Luca and not insisting that Trey was not a threat to anyone at all. When we pulled up into his family's driveway, Trey cut off the car.

"Well, welcome to insanity. Here we have a lot of it. Including a weird crazy father, his insane son, and the family friend who doesn't really fit in at all." Trey said smirking. I laughed. Trey got out of the car and I followed him, heading up to the door. He unlocked the door and we walked inside the house. He tossed his backpack down into a chair, so I did the same.

"Want some dinner or anything?" He asked. I shrugged and nodded. We walked into his houses kitchen and he opened the fridge. "Hey Sky!" He called out. A guy who looked maybe a year older than us walked into the kitchen. His hair was brown and blonde.

"What?" He asked, looking at us both.

"What was for dinner?" Trey asked, looking over at him.

"Haven't had dinner yet. We were waiting for you." The dude said.

"Oh, okay. By the way, Seth meet Skylar. Skylar meet Seth." Trey said. The dude - Skylar - nodded at me, and I returned the nod. Trey looked between us both. I heard more steps coming down the stairs. A guy with a buzz cut who looked like he was in his forties walked in the kitchen.

"I'm guessing you're the famous Seth?" The man asked me. I nodded.

"That's me." I said. Skylar laughed.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Bill, Trey's dad." The man said. I nodded again.

"What's for dinner?" Trey asked.

"Salad's alright with you all?" Bill asked. Trey and I nodded.

"Add some chicken." Skylar said. Bill nodded.

"Both of you show Seth around while I'm fixing dinner." Bill said. We all walked out of the room.

* * *

United States, 2012.

Five and his Cepan were heading to California, as quickly as they possibly could, which was pretty quick. They had to be getting close to the state by now.

"Do you think they all know each other is a Garde member?" Five asked.

"The sibling's know each other are, but it's unlikely they know about the third one, and vice versa." Clyde explained. Five nodded. It was likely that the Garde members wouldn't know until they got there.

"What do you think their numbers are?" Five asked. Clyde shrugged.

"Any number except One or Five, obviously." He replied. Five gave a half hearted laugh and looked back out of the window. He wondered what it would be like to be around other Garde members. He knew Clyde was a great friend and guardian to him, but he wondered if the other Garde members would understand him more. He also wondered if they all should've stayed together in the first place. He knew that it was safer for them to split up though.

"How old is all of the Garde?" Five asked.

"Should be around fifteen through eighteen, if I remember right." Clyde replied.

"You're young though. Only twenty right?" Five asked. Clyde nodded.

* * *

Lorien, 2001.

An important discussion was going on. It was about the ages of the Cepans that would be going to Earth with the Garde members. All of the chosen Cepan's were only a few years older than the Garde, except for one Cepan. The one Cepan that was older than the other Cepans was going to be the Cepan of Number Two, Jord. Some of the Elders didn't undersand why they were sending mostly kids to this other Planet, they believed that the kid Cepans would not undertand that if needed they should die to protect the Garde member. The other Elders argued that the younger the Cepans the more they'd get along with the Garde members, and that the Garde needed to get along with the Cepans in order for a successful trip to Earth. All they could really do though, was hope that everything would go good and that the Mogadorian's wouldn't find the Garde members at all. No matter what age their Cepan's were. It was a long shot to hope that none of the Garde members would perish while on Earth. All of the Elders knew that, but still they were arguing about something as simple as that.

* * *

California, 2012.

It was dark by now. Five and his Cepan had just made it to California, they weren't that far from Los Angeles when they noticed it. There had been a car following them all of the way from Mexico. Only stopping whenever they did. Five gripped onto his chest tighter as he turned his head to glance at Clyde. Clyde nodded.

"Mog's." Five said anyway. Clyde nodded again. Five kept looking in the mirror at the van behind them.

"I'm going to pull into a gas station. When I get out, you take off driving. I'll deal with the Mog's for as long as I can." Clyde said. "If I make it, I'll find you, okay? Just follow the directions on the tablet to find the others."

Five nodded and undid his seat belt. He got ready to switch seats. He wasn't sure about being along without his Cepan there, but he knew that they had to do what they were planning on doing. Five had to get to the others and then they'd be able to come back for Clyde, hopefully. He wasn't going to leave Clyde behind here, after eleven years of being with him constantly.

We slowed down as we pulled off an exit ramp into a gas station, Clyde slid out of the car and Five slid into the drivers seat. The Mog's car had followed us in. Clyde nodded at him and Five took off driving. He didn't look back as he drove back out onto the interstate. Didn't think to look back. Five turned on the tablet and watched as his dot moved closer to the three dots that were together. Five zoomed in on the three dots, he noticed that one dot was further away from the other two. He could start there first and then him and the other Garde member could go and get the other two. He just had to hope that it wasn't some trap to get him to go to the dot that was alone first.

When he finally got into the neighborhood that the red dot was in, it took him a few minutes to figure out what house the Garde member was at. He cut off the SUV and got out of it slowly. He looked around but he already knew no cars had followed him since the gas station. Maybe Clydes plan had worked. He walked up to the front door and knocked loudly. A guy opened the door.

"Hello. Who are you?" The guy asked.

"Mayne." Five replied. He pulled his Loric necklace off and showed the guy. The guy nodded.

"I'm Luca, Leah and Seth's Cepan. I guess you might know them better as their Loric names, since you remembered yours. Merit and Nash." The guy said. Five nodded.

"Come in." Five walked past Luca and into the living room.

"Who is it?" A girl's voice called down the steps.

"Leah, come down here if you don't mind." Luca said. Mayne pulled the necklace back over his head and let it lay on the outside of his shirt. A girl who Mayne recognized slightly from the ship to Earth walked down the stairs.

"Who are you?" Leah asked. Mayne smirked and nodded.

"I'm Mayne, Number Five." He stated, looking between Luca and Leah. They both nodded.

"Why are you here?" Luca asked. Mayne looked out the front windows toward the SUV.

"My Cepan and I were heading here when Mog's followed us. We have a tablet that shows where every Garde member is. There were three dots here, or well I guess four now with the addition of me." Mayne explained.

"Three dots as in Garde members? You have to be kidding. It's just me and my brother, Seth, here as far as Garde members go." Leah said. Mayne shook his head.

"There were three Garde members here even before I got here. Even if you don't know the third member, he or she has been here, and may still be here." Mayne explained. "But first things first, where's your brother?"

"At his friend Trey's house." Luca explained.

"We have to go get him, trust me." Mayne said. Leah shook her head.

"Wait, how do we know we can trust you?" Leah stated, raising an eyebrow. Mayne sighed and raised a hand toward the light in the room. The lights flickered out for a moment before he put the light back on.

"Is that enough proof for now?" Mayne asked. Luca nodded. "Do you have any chests?"

"Mine and Seth's are both here." Leah replied, nodding toward a chest that was on the couch. Mayne walked over and picked it up. Leah ran back up the stairs, returning a minute later with another chest. Luca grabbed a knife that Mayne's Cepan had too off of the TV.

"Lets go." Luca said. They all walked out of the house and to the SUV.


	3. Chapter 3

Los Angeles, California, 2012.

Number Six: Seth Slade POV:

Trey and I were sitting in his room when I heard it. A loud truck parking outside, it didn't sound like any normal truck to me. We both walked over to the window. What I saw outside freaked me out beyond belief. A ton of Mogs were getting out of cars lined up in the street.

"Mogs!" Trey called out, loud enough to wake anyone who was asleep in the house up. I looked over at him. How could he know about the Mogs?

"How do you know about them?" I asked. Trey smirked slightly.

"I'll explain everything later. For now, hey I'm Number Two. They're after me, and I'd really like to live for now. What Number are you?" Trey said, looking back out the window.

"Six." I said quietly. Bill and Skylar ran into the room and peered out the window too. I noticed that Skylar was carrying a chest in his arms. He nodded at me.

"Six, nice to meet you." He said, smirking slightly.

"Are you a number too?" I asked. Skylar shook his head.

"Nope, just the human." He replied. I nodded. I reached into my backpack and pulled out the spear. It grew longer as I held it. Trey smirked at me as he grabbed a dagger from his chest. The dagger morphed into his hand. Skylar pulled out his own dagger.

"Guess we're fighting huh?" I asked. Trey shook his head.

"Lets not do it here, we focus on getting to the car. Then we take it to the park where we hung out earlier, Seth. It's more open, less chance of us all getting separated." Trey said. "I guess there's no chance that you have any other Garde members with you?"

"My sister." I said, grabbing my cell phone and dialing Luca's number. He answered.

"Seth, we're on our way to Treys house. We have another Garde member with us." Luca said.

"So do I. Treys a Garde member. We're heading to the park on South street, meet us there, a ton of Mogs are here." I explained.

"Okay." Luca said. I hung up. We all stood up. Skylar grabbed Treys chest. We all walked slowly down the stairs. The sound of the front door being kicked in stopped us all in our tracks. Trey raced out ahead of us all, with the rest of us following him. There were four Mogs standing in the living room already. They blasted their cannons at us, luckily all of the shots missed. Trey sliced one with his dagger right across the throat, while Skylar, Bill, and I killed the others. We all rushed outside, taking shots at any Mog we could and dodging the Mogs' attacks. We made it to Treys car and we all got inside of it. Bill was in the drivers seat. He turned the car on and put it into reverse, speeding out of the driveway.

"So, what did Luca say?" Trey asked.

"They have another Garde member with them." I said. "I don't know how, but they do apparently."

"Four of us, good." Trey said, looking out the rear window. We got to the park as quick as we could, with Mogs behind us the entire way. When we got there, I saw Leah and Luca immediately. With them was a taller blonde haired guy. He had a ball in his hand. When a Mog got out of the car, the dude threw the ball at the ground. When it hit the ground, spikes flew out from it's sides. The ball went flying into the nearest Mog. Trey spun around and caught one of the Mogs in the stomach with his dagger. One of the Mogs flew up in the air and landed with a sickening splat. We all ended up in the fight with the Mogs. I couldn't tell who was winning for the longest time - the Mogs or us. It was seven people against what seemed like a million Mogs. I had just been kicked into a park of the playground set by a Mog when I noticed the total destruction that once was the park. There was fire everywhere, burning bits of ground where the fire had put itself out for the most part, but it still hadn't stopped completely burning. The Mog had that a cannon up against my face suddenly tumbled forward. I noticed Trey standing behind the Mog. I couldn't see anymore Mogs around us after that. We must have gotten rid of all of the ones that were after us.

"Let's go." Luca called out. "Before any more show up."

"Trey, Skylar, and I will take the car. The rest of you take the SUV." Bill called out. We all nodded and headed toward the car we were taking. I nodded at Trey before getting into the SUV. My phone rung and I handed it to Luca. Luca got into a conversation with whoever was on the phone. When he hung up, he looked at the other guy.

"We're heading out of state, do you need to check on your Cepan first? Or do you just want to leave, Mayne?" Luca asked. Mayne nodded and pulled out his own phone. He called someone and started talking to them on the phone.

"Clyde, where are you? I found the others. We're heading out of state, tell me and I'll come get you." Mayne said. After a second he nodded to himself.

"Okay." He hung up the phone. "By the way, call me Matt, it's the fake name I've had for a while now." We all nodded. Matt pulled out of the park before Trey, Bill, and Skylar did. We were once again running from the Mogs, but we had more people with us this time. It was different leaving a place with more people than just Leah, Luca, and myself. It felt completely different.

* * *

A week later, Nevada, 2012.

Number Six: Seth Slade POV:

We were all staying in a hotel somewhere in Nevada. All slightly recovering from our fights with the Mogs. Luckily, none of us had been hurt too badly. We'd all be back on our feet soon. Most likely when we left, we'd be running from the Mogs again. But a few days here and we hadn't seen any yet, thankfully. We had been able to find Matt's Cepan at the gas station where he had left him. He was lucky that he had made it out of a fight against as many Mogs as he had said there was by himself. In total now there was Leah, Luca, Clyde, Matt, Trey, Skylar, Bill, and I. Even with eight of us together, and not all of us being Garde members - or even Cepans -, our odds were better than they had been in the past. Trey, Matt, and I were sharing a room currently in the hotel. I was laying on my bed while they were talking and watching TV. I was listening to the TV, but I didn't feel like getting up. I still had some badly bruised ribs, so I had mainly just been laying in the hotel bedroom anyway. Usually Skylar and Leah hung out in our room too, but they weren't here yet. I rolled over in the bed, which just bothered my ribs. I sat up and looked at Trey and Matt. We had all decided to just go by the Earth names that we had had for a while now. Especially out in public. Every once in a while at our hotel, we'd call each other by our Loric names, which I now knew mine. Nash, my name was actually Nash. It was definitely a change from the name I'd grown use to, Seth. But eh, it wasn't that bad. I just preferred Seth. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the room.

"Mornin'." Matt said, looking at me and smiling. Trey smiled and nodded too. It was great being around Garde members other than Leah. Especially guy Garde members. They were more like me, in a way. I liked being able to talk to other people about Lorien and the Mogs too. It was nice being around Skylar too, it gave us a human perspective. I was surprised when I found out that Skylar had been one of the kids of the guys who helped us when we all first arrived on Earth.

"Morning." I replied, standing up slowly. Matt shoved a piece of donut into his mouth and then looked at me.

"Doughnut's are over in the Cepans' room." Matt said. I nodded and walked out into the hallway of the hotel. People walked past me as I walked to the next door room and opened the door. Luca, Leah, Bill, Clyde, and Skylar were sat around the room. I walked in and closed the door behind me. I walked over to the box of doughnuts that was on the bedside table and grabbed one.

"Glad to see you up." Skylar said loudly. "Thought we were gonna have to cart you downstairs and into one of the cars." I laughed.

"Nah, I can walk." I replied, sitting down next to him on the couch. Skylar fit into our group perfectly, even though he was human. I figured that maybe a human would never fully understand the Lorien thing, but Skylar did. He understood everything as far as that went. He wasn't even afraid of facing Mogs any more than the rest of us were. Trey and Matt walked into the room after a few minutes.

"So, when we leaving?" Trey asked, looking around the room. I shrugged and so did Skylar. It appeared that none of us Garde members - or human - knew when we were leaving. I figured that the Cepans did though. We all looked over at them.

"Today, if possible. We need to keep moving." Luca explained.

"Yes, we've been looking at the tablet, and we think that it may be smart for us to meet up with the rest of the remaining Garde members. Of course, most of them are in other countries." Clyde stated. Bill nodded. I looked at the Garde members around me. Maybe we should find the rest of the Garde. We'd be stronger with most of the rest of the Garde.

"So, let's start packing, I guess." Bill finished. We all stood up and walked to our rooms to pack.

* * *

England, 2012.

Cepan: Garrett Court POV:

My name was Garrett Court. I was a Cepan, except not really. I didn't have my own Garde member to watch after. More like, my brother and I had a Garde member to look after. Christopher and I had originally had two Garde members to look after. They were brother and sister. When the sister died, since she was Number One out of the entire Garde, none of the rest of us did, because the Mogs found her while she was alone. We were too late, by the time we got back she was dead, and the Mogs were gone. We had been stupid to leave her alone like that. I still blame myself.  
Maybe part of the reason I blamed myself is because I put myself in the poor younger brothers shoes. If Christopher had died, I'd been a wreck. He was my only family, my actual biological brother. He was even my brother on Lorien. We'd been sent here together to protect Jev and Pilar. When Pilar died, I felt horrible. I felt horrible for years, I still felt horrible even. It was our life duty on Earth to protect the Garde members and Chris and I had failed and let one of our Garde members die.

I paced around the living room, waiting for Christopher to get back to our apartment. I looked toward the hallway, Jev was still asleep apparently. Or he was just hiding out in his room to avoid his Cepans. I felt sorry for him, he lost his sister and had two insane Cepans to deal with. I was over-protective of him, and Christopher wanted to get into fights with everyone. I let out a sigh, must be horrible dealing with us. I walked down the hallway. I heard Jev typing on his computer. He was probably checking the news for stories about him doing unbelievable things or he was planting stories about other kids to keep himself from everyones attention. I knocked on his bedroom door.

"John?" I asked, using the name he had picked for himself. The typing stopped and after a second, the door opened.

"What is it, Garrett?" He asked, looking past me into the hallway.

"Nothing, just wanted to check on you and see if you needed anything." I said, looking into his room. It was in it's normal state, with books on the floor and on the bed. John shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. Is Christopher back yet?" He asked. I shook my head. "Damn, I wanted to train some."

"When did you become interested in training?" I asked, grinning slightly.

He shrugged. "Eh, just wanna be ready in case any Mogs show up. I'm Number Three right? I mean, I need to be prepared." He started, looking back into his room. "I saw a new story today. From America."

"Did you plant it or?" I asked, even though I didn't need to.

"No, I didn't." He said, walking back to his computer. I followed him into his room. He pointed at the screen and clicked play on a small video that was on the screen. A news reporter started talking as I watched.

"Four teens and their entire known families have gone missing. School staff members first notified the police when none of the students showed up for school on Thursday. One of the kids went to a different school than the other three, but it is still possible that his disappearance is related to the other three." The guy began. "Two of the missing students, Seth and Leah Slade, were brother and sister. They lived with their only known brother and had only lived in the California area for a matter of weeks. Another student, Trey Woodlee, had only lived here for a few days."

The camera switched from the news reporter to someone who looked like they had just walked out of a day working at a school. "Seth Slade and Trey Woodlee had became good friends the first day that Mr Woodlee joined our school." She said, nodding to herself. "I asked Seth to show Trey around the school and help him out for the first few days. On the last day that they were all here, someone had reported to the office that Trey had made some unacceptable comments, he was warned that if the incident happened again, he'd be kicked out."

The reporter was back on camera. "Police are not sure if this is a case of a student going mad after rumors were spread about him or not. The other student, who didn't go to their school, was Skylar Long. He had no known relatives, always walked to school, never gained any friends in the few days he went there, and was not known to hang out with Trey Woodlee, Seth Slade, or Leah Slade. But nothing can be ruled out at this point says police." He stated with a sad look in his eyes. With that, the video ended.

I looked over at Jev. "You think they're Garde members don't you?" I asked. He nodded. I looked back at the screen. Four kids going missing could be considered to have to do to the Mogs.

"None of them are dead, obviously." He said, nodding down to his leg. He pulled up his pants leg and showed me his one scar. He only had one still. I nodded. I looked back at the computer, it could be possible that there were four Garde members who had been in California together without knowing it I suppose. Who knew anymore? If Garde members had gotten together, then why hadn't they came looking for the rest of the Garde yet.

"Tell Christopher when he gets back." I stated, looking over at Jev. He nodded.

* * *

China, 2012.

Number 8: Ander POV:

I looked out at the lights around here. It was nice, I fit in. Or well sort of. Not that I had to really worry about the Mogadorians right now. I was Number Eight, Two was even still alive. I was safe for now. I looked down to the street at the cars that zoomed by. It was a typical night here, not that I was complaining. I liked watching the cars, it was what I grew up around even. I looked up from the road when I heard a soft landing on the balcony behind me. I wasn't prepared to fight a Mogadorian right now. I slowly turned around and threw my fist blindly. My wrist was caught and I was slung down to the floor. A knee planted itself right in my back between my shoulder blades.

"Out of luck, Jae? Or should I say Ander?" A voice asked right next to my ear. After a second, the person on top of me started laughing and got off of my back. "You're so easy to get, dude." Benji says, grinning.

"Remind me to thank your parents for putting you through Karate lessons. Really love the Stealth part of it." I replied standing up. Benji has always been my best friend. His dad was responsible for helping me and my Cepan, Aylin, find places to live. We'd grown up together in the years that I'd been on Earth. Benji, his father, and his mother all knew where my Cepan and I were from. They knew of the Mogs, of everything. Now Benji's family lives next door to my Cepan and I. Unfotunately both apartments had a balcony.

"Just testing your skills, man. By the way, you suck at fighting." Benji said, shaking his head. I laughed. Leave it to Benji to criticize a Garde members fighting skills.

"Says the black belt who just sneak attacked his only alien friend." I reply with a look of disgust on my face. It's been this way for as long as I can remember. I could also remember being jealous of Benji getting to do Karate when we were younger.

* * *

Korea, 2002.

A young Jae sat in his friends parents car. He was not happy at all. His Cepan and his friends mother were in the car with him, once again explaining why Jae couldn't go and do Karate with Benji. He didn't see the fair part of his alien Legacies being the same Ben's Karate. Especially since he didn't have any Legaies yet. It was unfair in Jae's mind that he couldn't do Karate at least until he got a stupid Legacy. What would be the harm? Of course at Jae's age, he wouldn't get the fact that he could put everyone in danger including the other Karate students.

In return for him not getting to go to Karate classes, Ben and his dad taught him some stuff. But it wasn't really the same. Jae never really caught on. Especially not as well as Ben did.

* * *

China, 2012.

Number Eight: Ander POV:

The arguing about Benji being able to do other things that I didn't get to didn't just end at the Karate. It went on about school stuff and other stuff outside of school. Now I laughed every time I thought back to a time where Ben was able to do more things and I was jealous.

"Still don't understand why I didn't get to do some Karate classes." I stated. Ben shrugged.

"You're too valuable." He says as if it's the most obvious thing. "You gotta save not one - but two worlds." "A few classes couldn't of hurt. I mean look at how easy you jumped over here and took me down. And you're even hu-" I cut myself off before I finished the word.

"Human. Say it, Jae. I'm just a stupid human, right?" Ben snapped.

"I didn't mean it like that." I tried to explain.

"Sure you didn't. Jeez, Jae, not everyone can be a cool alien from a planet named Lorien." Ben said, walking over to the railing. "Plus, I mean it's not like I've promised to give my damn life away to keep you from dying or anything!"

"What are you even talking about?" I yelled at him. I had no clue what he meant by giving his life away. I knew that Cepans were suppose to be ready to give up their lives for the Garde members, but no humans were.

"You don't know do you?" Ben asked, looking back toward the apartments. "See, I've been told that if your Cepan was to die, and if my parents were to die. Then it'd be my job to protect you as if I was a Cepan. I'd die to save your life. As if you're life is more important than mine, but hey, my parents and I agreed."

"I didn't know at all, Ben." I replied, shaking my head. "Don't feel as if you have to stick around at that point. I'll take care of myself."

"That's not the point! I care enough about you to risk my life! I'm a black belt because of that, just in case I have to fight off an Army of Mogs." Ben says, walking to the balcony railing. "I gotta go back to my house." He added, jumping up onto the railing and quickly hopping over to his houses balcony.

I didn't look back at him as I heard his apartments door to the balcony close behind him as he went back inside. I couldn't believe that humans were ready to give up their lives to try and save me. I walked back inside after a while and found Aylin sitting on the couch in the living room. I leaned against the doorway and looked at her.

"Why'd you do it?" I asked after a few minutes of standing there in silence.

"Hey Ander. Didn't hear you come in." Aylin said, looking back at me. "Now, why did I do what exactly?"

"Get Benji and his parents to practically sign their lives away for me." I stated, looking around the small room.

"Oh." Aylin began. "Look, Ander, you could never fully understand this until you get back to Lorien. We all did it to protect you all. You need back-ups in case I die. I wanted someone there to take care of you if I can't."

"I can take care of myself." I snap at her. I hated her talking about me like this when she wasn't even that much older than me. It was like she thought of me as a little kid still.

"Ander, face it. You don't have many Legacies, and you're not a fighter." Aylin said, looking down at the book in her lap.

"I'd be a fighter if I ever got to take any fighting classes. You held me back back then. I could be a black belt too. No one would have to worry about me then." I said, lookng down at my feet. Aylin sighed.

"I didn't want anyone to find out about you. I'm sorry if you feel as if I held you back by saying no." Aylin said in a tone that practically screamed 'end of conversation.' I turned around and walked down the hall to my room, closing and locking the door behind me. I didn't want to risk humans lives anymore. Didn't want to think about humans risking their lives to save me. It was a waste of time trying to convince Ben's family to just forget about the deal and move out of the country, I knew that before I even bothered thinking about trying to convince them to forget about protecting me. They'd always been protective of me and even Aylin when we were younger. I was glad that they had been there when we didn't have anyone else, but I'd started to think of them as my own parents, I didn't want to lose these parents too. Especially not in protecting me like my real parents were probably doing when the Mogs killed them.

* * *

Canada, 2012.

Number Nine: Rhea POV:

My name is Rhea. Although that wasn't what anyone called me, no one had really called me that for eleven years now. They'd called me various names as we moved around. Now my name was Dianna, as it had been for a while now. I liked the name, and Quinton - my Cepan - had said that it fitted me. Quint was the only person who ever called me Rhea anymore, and even now it was rare to hear him use my real name and not my fake name. Quint was something, he was always there when I needed him as any Cepan was. But what none of the other Cepans probably had was his kindness and humor. He tried to always get us nice places to stay, but also try to stress the fact that we won't always get nice places whenever we're running from the Mogs. Back a few years ago, if you had asked me about Quint, I'd probably of said that he was cute. But that was when we were bouncing through adoption agencies, that was before we had actually grown up to what we were now. Now, while I still found Quint to be nice and funny, I no longer thought of him as a person I'd date. Especially not after he used many girls that he had dated. I knew why he did it, he missed Lorien so he tried to distract himself froms thoughts of Lorien, and of the Mogadorians. It didn't work though, I knew that much. Nothing worked to stop those thoughts when they were constantly in your head. We'd fought the Mogs before, and it had damaged Quinton. Not physically, but mentally I'd say. He was a lot quieter now, and more serious than he had been. There were still moments when the old Quint would show, but he had mostly changed into a different person. After that though, the dates and constant girlfriends stopped for him. Most of the time now, I could find him in his office. Where he was sitting in front of a computer constantly checking the internet. I'd check on him in the mornings before I left for school and then at night whenever I'd get home. He'd usually be in the same place, and if he wasn't then he was asleep.

Tonight though, when I made it home he was sitting in the living room watching tv. He looked over at me when I walked into the house and smiled. I returned the smile, since it was a rare sight anymore. I often missed the times when Quint was happier. Not that I could do much to get him back like that though. I didn't even know where to start except fix myself a space ship and send him back to Lorien. I already knew, even if I could do that, that he wouldn't leave until the Mogs were gone. There was no way to fix Quint back to the way he had been, unfortunately. I sat down on the couch next to him and looked over at him.

"Anything new?" I asked. He shook his head.

"Not a lot." He said. I nodded. I was shocked that there was no new news with the way he was acting. It was a surprise to see him outside of his room or office anymore. "Rhea, I was thinking. We can't live as if the Mogs are going to be here any second. We need to be normal in a way. Like we were years ago." He stated. I nodded.

"I've tried to be like that, for the record. You haven't though." I said, quietly. Quint nodded and looked down at the floor. He smiled after a second.

"Remember the days when we'd act like we were brother and sister?" He asked. I laughed and nodded. "Back then, neither of us had a care in the world. Other than finding a place to stay and a meal."

"Yeah, it was nice back then, honestly." I replied. Quint nodded.

"Sorry about how I've acted since then." He apologized, looking over at me.

"Don't worry about it." I replied, shrugging. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into a hug. I returned the hug. It was nice, having Quint acting like this. I always figured I'd only get him acting like the computer and news stories were the most important thing in life. It was great having him back like this though. I wouldn't complain if he stayed like this.

* * *

United States, 2012.

Number Six: Seth POV:

We had drove for a long time, stopping only to sleep at night - if we didn't just switch drivers and keep on going. I couldn't sleep good in the car when we did sleep in the cars. I tried staying in the van with Clyde, Matt, Luca, and Leah instead of in Treys car because of it having more space but some days I had to ride in the car. It'd been about a week since we left the hotel. I was shocked at how quickly time had passed. At one hotel Skylar found a report on the news about us all being missing from LA. If only the cops knew they'd probably never found us they'd probably not even attempt to put out any stories about us all. Since Bill, Treys Cepan, was the only actual adult - if you didn't consider Clyde and Luca being twenty years old as an actual adult - he ended up booking the hotels and dealing with everything that consisted of getting us money. Bill, Trey, and Skylar seemed to have ended up with a lot of money in a lot of different banks with the ease we were having getting money out of their multiple bank accounts. I was glad they did have all of that cash though. Would be hard if we had to get jobs to get enough money to have some gas money to last us a while before we could leave a place.

I was sitting between Skylar and Matt tonight in the van. Leah had switched cars with Skylar so that she was in the car with Trey and Bill. Trey and her had been getting along since we left California; a miracle since Leah had tried to get Trey kicked out of our school. Matt didn't seem to like Trey and Leah hanging out together this much, but it wasn't like he could control who hung out with who out of our small group. Plus it was sort of nice having Skylar in our car this time. He had a personality different from any of the people I had known in my eleven years on Earth - and probably even in the five years I had spent on Lorien. I personally found it great that Skylar wasn't really like anyone else, and definitely not like anyone else in our small group. One thing that constantly ruined everyones moods throughout our trips driving and even at night in the hotels, was the fact that we didn't know if the Mogs were following us or not. I didn't want to fear the Mogs for the entire time that we were driving through different states, but it was hard to ignore the fact that they could've been following us. Even if we didn't see them. Everyone was worried about it, but we all tried to avoid talking about the subject since it just tended to make everyone mad about the fact that we couldn't even just enjoy a road trip - a sentence that always made Skylar laugh.

Matt was glaring out of his window, halfway looking up in front of us at the sports car that had Leah, Bill, and Trey in it and halfway looking down at the ground. I didn't see why he was in such a worse mood today. I looked over at him but decided to keep my mouth shut instead of asking what was wrong. We road in the cars for a couple more hours before pulling into a park. We all parked next to each other and Clyde searched through the coolers of food we had in the back of SUV, Skylar, Matt, and I were standing together and talking when Trey and Leah walked up.

"Hey. We were thinking about walking through the woods area, you guys want to come?" Trey asked. Skylar and I nodded. Matt shrugged. "Sure, whatever." Matt said. He definitely didn't look too happy to be going on a hike. Luca walked over.

"Heard your plans. Stick together alright? And you all have weapons on you right?" He asked. We all nodded. Luca nodded and walked back to the other Cepans and we headed off into the trees area. After a few minutes, we split up into groups. Me, Matt, and Skylar went one way while Trey and Leah went another. We stayed quiet for a while before any of us talked. When we did, it was Skylar who broke the silence.

"You all must think I'm useless since I'm human." He began. "I mean I can't make a spear grow for a fight or shrink to fit in my pocket. Can't move stuff with my mind. Nothing."

"Where's this going? Cause I'm only hearing con's against you being here." Matt said. Skylar smirked at him.

"Trey's kept me around this long for a reason. For starters, I'm a human. I can go places you all can't." He began. "People have in the past trusted me more than Trey or Bill. Like in Texas, when we were looking for a Garde member."

"When?" Matt asked, looking over at Skylar. "When were you in Texas?"

"A few weeks ago. Right before we moved to California. There were stories of this kid there." Skylar explained.

"That was me. You were looking for me." Matt replied. Skylar nodded after a second.

"You were gone by the time we got there." He replied. I stood there in silence. Matt nodded. We all went back quiet. We walked up to a creek. We found a rock that overlooked the creek and sat down on it.


End file.
